ABSTRACT
The space occupied by the coast is not easily defined. It is a complex environment that has attributes belonging to both terrestrial and marine environments, which defies a truly integrated classification. This chapter covers:
The coast is simply where the land meets the sea. However, applying this statement in the real world is not that straightforward. It is not always easy, for instance, to define exactly where the land finishes and the sea begins. This is particularly so for extensive lowlying coastal wetlands, which for most of the time may be exposed and apparently terrestrial, but a number of times a year become submerged below high tides – does this environment belong to the sea or to the land, and where should the boundary between the two be drawn? It is much more meaningful, therefore, not to talk of coastlines, but of coastal zones, a spatial zone between the sea and the land. Usefully, this has been defined as the area between the landward limit of marine influence and the seaward limit of terrestrial influence (Carter, 1988). If we accept this definition, then coasts often become wide spatial areas, for example, encompassing land receiving sea-spray and blown sand from beach sources, and out to sea as far as river water penetrates, issued from estuaries and deltas.
